Contentions

Mary Robinson, with her Medal of Freedom no doubt tucked in her suitcase, traveled with her fellow “Elders,” including Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, to the Middle East to pronounce on peace. She, of course, called for a settlement freeze because a two-state solution hangs in the balance, she declares. (She must not have gotten the memo that the Arab states aren’t interested in intermediary steps.) The two-state solution apparently isn’t endangered by Palestinians’ refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist. (They must have heard that Zionism = Racism. There was a UN conference that said so.)

And while she says she understands Israel’s “security concerns,” she’s very troubled by the blockade of Gaza. After all, she says: “But the real security is the lasting peace, and that we know from Ireland. I can go to Belfast now. It’s a thriving cultural city, and now when I travel from Dublin to Belfast, I don’t even feel anything when I cross the border.”

Any recognition that Hamas hasn’t yet gone out of the terrorism business like the IRA? No. You see, Israel blew it by not consolidating gains from peace moves in Gaza. Or something. But she’s concerned about the treatment of women in Gaza. No word about how she feels about the executions.

These are the sorts of insights that won her America’s highest civilian prize. A role model and agent of change, Obama told us. Well, it’s good to know to whom the president looks for inspiration.